Greenwald with an astute observation that needs to be remembered:
There’s a prevailing sense that Obama is not as offensive to the right-wing GOP faction as other Democratic and liberal candidates in the past have been, or that he’s less “divisive” among them than Hillary. And that’s true: for now, while he tries to take down the individual who has long provoked the most intense hatred — literally — among the Right. But anyone who doesn’t think that that’s all going to change instantaneously if Obama is the nominee hasn’t been watching how this faction operates over the last 20 years. Hatred is their fuel. Just look at the bottomless personal animus they managed to generate over an anemic, mundane, inoffensive figure like John Kerry. At their Convention, they waved signs with band-aids mocking his purple hearts while cheering on two combat-avoiders.
If Obama wins the nomination for the Democrats, all of that will change, and it will change overnight. We will be regaled with long tales of madrassas, Obama’s first name will become Hussein, and everyone’s pets will be running around frothing from all the dog whistles. Obama is getting a free ride at the moment because of the intense, nutty, and 15 year old hate for the Clagina (in all honesty, I was a hater up until a few years ago when I realized cold and calculating competence is better than willful dishonesty and feckless incompetence). But if and when the queen is vanquished, all that venom will need a target, and that target will be Obama.
*** Update ***
I should probably note that the inevitable shift from full-on Clinton hatred to reverse Obamania by our right-wing friends could, quite possibly, be the least interesting political jujitzu they engage in this election year.
No, folks. The most interesting flip-flop of this election cycle could come if Huckabee actually wins the nomination. Then we will get the treat of watching all the establishment right-wingers, who have spent the last few months calling Huckabee a religious nutjob and the like, contort 180 degrees and attack the left-wing for pointing out that he is… a religious nutjob. Which he is.
If you need a preview of this, read the Sundries Shack, where itinerant fool Jimmie has spent the past few years taking great offense whenever someone points out the unhealthy fusion of right-wing politics and religion, but who has been less a fan of said fusion since the Huckaboom.
Paddy O'Shea
None of this matters, because the Huckster gets cell calls from God.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2=yj_okz7ZwI
p-rex
crooks and liars has your back on this one:
seriously, as we’ve seen. the dems could nominate an innocent 12 year old boy and by november he’d be painted as a terrorist lovin’ troops hatin’ pinko hypocrite who was secretly a mullah amongst his fellow fifth-graders.
skip
Whatever else the GOP has done to us in recent years, this coarsening of the national dialogue may have been thr worst of all. As John noted, what WAS the big deal with Kerry? A pretty humdrum Democrat who somehow became the Dysangel, an object of fear and loathing, It was the demonizing of Max Cleland that didi it for me though.
Now we being asked by our friends to “just move on” while staring at a trillion dollar bill for it all.
This “traitor” isn’t quite ready to forgive and forget, The hysteria after 9/11 was a real cautionary. Who would have believed that possible in a nation with a free press!
wasabi gasp
Welcome to the Terrordome
myiq2xu
They are already spreading rumors that Obama fathered to black daughters.
bobbob
You are absolutely right. I listened to some right wing talk radio Friday while traveling for work. I don’t listen that often because I care about my mental health, but all the callers into those shows always referred to Obama as Hussein, that he is a Muslim, and he will not “Pledge Allegiance to the Flag”. Crazy stuff.
I believe the plan for the GOP right now is to see that Clinton is elected so they can stop anything she tries to do during her term and they can take over the Congress like they did in ’92.
myiq2xu
Oops, my bad.
Fixt
myiq2xu
The thing to remember is that only dogs respond to dogwhistles, and dogs don’t vote Democratic anyway.
That stuff energizes the shock troops but alienates the independents.
merciless
Yeah, if Obama is the nominee, by the time the actual election rolls around, a large minority of the country will be convinced that he was behind the 9/11 attacks.
So what? We know this is going to happen, and it will happen no matter what. So bring it on. Fight back. My hope is that the racism will be so ugly that it will repulse the average voter, and the republicans will be left with the people they have now, the dregs.
ThymeZone
I don’t agree that the right will come at Obama with their patented schtick. I think that they’ll be afraid to try to destroy him because they will be worried about blowback.
But, if I’m wrong, and they do, then …. it will backfire. Obama isn’t Kerry. He’ll stand up for himself, and he’ll win that contest. He doesn’t do victimhood, he isn’t passive, and he will shame the attackers with calm and firm appeals to decency and fairness. My prediction is that the more they try to pull that crap, the more Obama gains from it.
Let the thugs on the right try their bullshit this year. I think it will reveal them for who they really are, and it will finish them off at the national level. But if they are smart, they will stay back, let the Dem wave do its thing, and try to regroup and rebuild the ruins of their party. And if I’m wrong, and they don’t do that … so much the better, AFAIC. Screw ’em.
Justin
Of course they’re going to demonize Obama. Who seriously thinks otherwise? The question is whether it will be easier or harder than demonizing Clinton. I have to think they will have a harder time with Obama.
myiq2xu
I hate to say it, but if Obama (or whoever the eventual nominee is) sits there passively and doesn’t fight back when the GOP rat-fuckers attack, he deserves to lose.
Enough of these “battered-spouse” candidates.
Chris
Typical liberal dishonesty! Why is Mike Huckabee’s faith fair game while Barack H. Obama’s super-duper secret Muslim faith off the table!
Seriously, though. Anyone else getting those Fw: Fw: Fw: Fw: Fw: Fw: IMPORTANT FACTS ABOUT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA emails from relatives? *raises hand*
MikeEss
I agree that the Reichwing treatment of Obama has been mild so far. If he continues to be successful, the gloves will come off and the Noise Machine will kick into high gear (when it’s not aimed at the Huckster).
Since the assassinations of JFK, RFK, and MLK all took place during my lifetime (along with multiple attempts against Ford, an almost successful attempt on Reagan, etc.), my biggest fear is some white-power nutcase going after Obama with something stronger than words.
A very scary scenario, IMHO…
Wilfred
The anti-Muslim screeching of the right wing is the last form of socially acceptable bigotry, witness Ann Coulter, Robertson, Falwell et al.
I think Obama’s best defense against this type of bigotry is to simply ask: “And if I was a Muslim? Would that disqualify me?” That question is not going to change the thinking of the right but it might be enough to stir the residual decency of Americans.
It might even make people think, but that might be asking too much.
STEVEinSC
“That stuff energizes the shock troops but alienates the independents.”
“But, if I’m wrong, and they do, then …. it will backfire. Obama isn’t Kerry. He’ll stand up for himself, and he’ll win that contest.”
The smear must be met with smear. Fire against fire. The independents will quail, Barack HUSSEIN Obama can fight back all he wants, but even in ANSWERING the attacks he loses. Answering attacks is no defense, it only validates the attacks. This campaign will be between people who believe in Marquis of Kingsbury rules against muggers, and if so, make no mistake about who will win. Remember Rove’s (or actually the unnamed Administration source)comment “We make a reality and you debate it, but before you act we make a new reality…” (Paraphrase, sorry.) We just cannot gauge the depths to which they will resort in their desparation.
myiq2xu
I have to disagree with you on this one TZ: I don’t think the GOP can not attack him, even if they want to. It’s all they know. It’s in their DNA.
It’s like the Clinton Impeachment, anyone could see that it was gonna be a trainwreck for the GOP, but they couldn’t stop themselves.
myiq2xu
When the Clenis was running the first time, he had a “rapid response” team to respond to lies and rumors. It worked.
Dukakis, Gore and Kerry all tried to “rise above” the lies and rumors. How well did that work?
STEVEinSC
For Obama to have a chance, he will have to prove he loves apple pie than anyone else. He would have to go to NASACAR and hold snakes at a tent revival. Maybe even burning a cross at a mosque might be necessary and demanding the bombing of Mecca. All that might not be enough. He would end up so right of center as to be useless in the White House.
Chris Johnson
I for one am absolutely sick of political discourse in this country happening entirely on a Weekly World News level.
Just sayin’.
4tehlulz
Concern troll detected.
Jay
That’s hysterical!
and
Exactly. I think he’s already shown that he willing and able to turn these things around – look at the smackdown Hillary gets every time she tries. I doubt that he’s going to make the same mistakes as Kerry and the Swift Boat crap or Gore inventing the Internet and he sure as hell has a more exciting persona than either of those Driftwood Honkies. Gobama.
STEVEinSC
I meant NASCAR, a redneck organization that squaders people’s money runing around a dirt or asphalt track, not NASACAR which is an agency squandering the taxpayers money on runing loops around in space as high-class welfare for the military-industrial complex.
ThymeZone
I know, and it’s a good point. I hope I am wrong and that they do impale themselves on the sword of destructive politics. I think it will finish them off at the national level for a long time.
I think the GOP base fears Obama because they know that they have nothing to counter him but hate, and they also know that the hate utlimately will destroy them, and not him.
Me, I’m stocking up on popcorn.
Dreggas
I think, John, that the difference is it will be the same noise machine that has gone after dems the past 7 years, that being the far rabid right wing. Those that changed party affiliation to vote for obama didn’t do so because they want to turn on him come the general, but because they’re just as sick and fucking tired of the BS as the rest of us are.
Dreggas
They also know it will show that they really, truly, are flat out racist.
Wilfred
They’re more afraid of Obama because he’s just not very threatening to independents. Their strategy is based on Clinton; to fan the old flames and drive out the vote. I think that explains why they’re going after Obama so early – they need her to be nominated.
magisterludi
Obama is waa-ay too vague for me at this point. One thing I know, his healthcare “solutions” as outlined briefly yesterday are sure to calm the jitters of the insurance corporations. His plan sucks for the rest of us.
That said, the VRWC will attack regardless of the candidate. I’m sure Obama will suffer more under the radar whispering campaigns like the ones that sunk McCain in SC back in the 2000 Republican primary. These tactics, pandering to the lowest human denominator, are an art form for the GOP and I doubt they won’t pull out all the stops
STEVEinSC
“…he’s not very threatening to independents.” Not very threatening to independents? That’s it? You think that frightens the Swift-boat handlers? Why do you think smear merchant Ed Rogers nearly leaped from his chair earlier this year on Tweety’s show when Obama’s name came up? Independent-friendly Harold Ford ring a bell with you guys? You underestimate the depth of racism in this country when it comes to pulling the lever in November.
Incertus (Brian)
Since when has the right been concerned about blowback over racial politics? We’re talking about the group that has been nodding vigorously in agreement with every coded racial slam their leadership threw at them for the last 40 years–and you think they’re going to suddenly quail when there’s an actual African=American male poised to take the highest office in the land? Come on.
Dreggas
You mean like Hillary’s? Mandating that those without health insurance buy it and penalize those who don’t? Kinda like how it’s against the law to not have car insurance…
p-rex
sorry steve, i live in tennessee and harold ford is not the template for barack obama. ford ran a pitiful campaign in a red state, running as a moderate against a republican who was also running as a moderate.
when tennesseans were looking for who to replace their former republican senate majority leader, the difference became black vs. white because otherwise ford didn’t give voters any other distinctions to draw upon. not saying that race didn’t come into it, but ford basically made that the only factor by running the dlc-approved campaign (also didn’t respond at all well to the ‘call me harold’ ad, and the confrontation at the corker rally was downright stupid). ford was also easily painted as a washington insider, having lived much of his life in d.c. as the son of a long-time representative.
the racism in the south and particularly southeast shouldn’t be underestimated, but i’m not sure any democrat, much less obama, has much of a chance down here.
Jake
No offense to you or Greenwald, John but: Duh.
The script was written decades ago: The democratic candidate is the most evilest, baby eating, kitten skull fucking son- -of-a-bitch to ever drag his scaly belly atop a screaming white virgin tied to a church altar. The republican candidate is the Christian, white hatted, knight in shining armor, strong, firm jawed, smart (but not intellectual) savior of the universe.
All these lazy fucks need to do is fill in a few blanks.
myiq2xu
I caught hell yesterday from someone for saying this but I stand by this prediction, the vilest attacks against Obama will come from black Republicans. Because if they say it, it isn’t “racist.”
I used the term “house negros” yesterday for a reason. Have you ever noticed that the relatively few minorities in the GOP are pushed to the front, especially on racial issues? And this is the party most opposed to Affirmative Action.
ThymeZone
Well, “the right” isn’t one thing, not a monolith, it’s several things.
There’s a pure crazy base out there, which is what you appear to be talking about. But there is also a more traditional “conservative” chunk out there, and I think they are the chunk that runs the GOP. That group is quite aware that their fun times are over. And I seriously doubt that they will empower Obama-destruction as a means to their end.
But as I say, if they do, we win, and they lose. So, whatever.
Jay
What ever happened to J.C. Watts?
Mary
TZ, I agree that the GOP can’t overtly attack Obama without risk, and that he can deal with just about anything thrown at him in public.
What worries me are those highly effective whispering campaigns by email that can’t be easily linked to the GOP. Haven’t we already had a taste of how well “he’s really a Muslim” has played among the ignorant and bigoted? Imagine that kind of campaign kicked into full gear.
Wilfred
Focusing on race obscures the point. They won’t go after Obama for being black, for all the obvious reasons, but will instead resort to the ‘closet Muslim’ tactic, brought out by Pipes and plastered over at Redstate – the B. Hussein Obama routine.
Ben Smith mentioned the Pipes job over at Politico.
dslak
Except for the fact that Democrats don’t even go to church. I suppose it’s too much to expect consistency from the people who would trade in such nonsense, though.
dslak
Actually, the worst offenders seem to be foregoing anything like ‘B. Hussein’ and just use ‘Hussein’ as his first name. Ooh, ‘Hussein’ . . . So scary!
ThymeZone
Yes, I can imagine it, and I really think that on balance, it works in our favor in November. I have a hunch that the press will work it in his favor. The press slept through Swiftboating, but I don’t think they would sleep through that kind of attack on Obama.
dslak
No smart Democratic campaign should ever rely on the press for anything. Any attacks that smack of racism will probably get some airtime, however, which can only hurt the GOP.
myiq2xu
Expect him to be attacked for being soft on crime, pro-welfare, pro-affirmative action, etc, etc. Law and Order and Welfare are dog whistle issues. But that’s not the real thrust of the attack they will be making.
Remember the line about “the soft bigotry of low expectations?” You’ll be hearing similar language, probably from the likes of Alan Keyes or J.C. Watts. They will accuse Obama of being a racist bigot for thinking blacks and other minorities might need a helping hand or something along those lines.
In the movie Rising Sun Sean Connery warns Wesley Snipes he will be accused of being a racist. Snipes laughs it off, but that is exactly what happens.
Turdblossom’s theory is attack their strength. That’s why they went after Kerry’s military record. Two chickenhawks got away with sliming a war hero.
Anyone wanna bet me? I have an almost-new Henway I’ll put up as a wager.
Scotty
So does that mean Fox News will be doing segments on how religion will be under attack in the U.S.?
dslak
Before worrying too much about how the GOP might attack Obama, consider who the Republican candidate will be, and what chance they have of getting enough support to win.
Romney: If you think there’s prejudice against blacks in this country, wait until you see the results of a Mormon running for office. Lots of evangelicals will defect or stay home, as well as general Mormon-hating independents.
Huckabee: His religious right views are simply going to scare moderates, even if he talks a good game about compassion. Plus, the airing of his record in a national election is going to kill him.
McCain: The most formidable Republican candidate, but also the most tragic. McCain had a reputation for straight-talk and integrity, but he sold out in order to win over a voting bloc that’s never going to vote for him. As with Mitt, many evangelicals will defect or stay home, and those looking for a candidate with character and integrity will also be attracted to Obama.
It seems then that, whomever the Republicans nominate, any Democrat other than Clinton ought to be able to mop the floor with him, and that’s especially true with Obama, despite any race-baiting or implications that he’s Muslim.
grumpy realist
OT, but what’s the possibility of the following:
a) Huckabee looking like he’s getting the Republican nomination
b) the money-Republicans going nuts, putting up a McCain/Lieberman ticket and funding it?
TheFountainHead
Word, foo!
Seriously, the media, all of it, loves Obama. I don’t think the Republicans can risk their usual slash and burn.
myiq2xu
The Goopers are sneaky as hell. Ever wonder where Ralph Nader’s financial support and media attention came from?
Nader siphoned off the environmentalist votes from Gore, who Nader claimed was no better than Bush. Those votes made the difference.
“Attack their strength.” What is/was Gore’s biggest strength? Nader robbed him of that issue.
Follow the money.
Wilfred
FWIW:
While the primary campaign is still national, the general election will again come down to a few districts in Florida, Ohio and Michigan, I imagine. If its Obama against McCain/Lieberman – and I bet it will be – the Muslim smear will be the preferred tactic.
Jay
McCain and Lieberman were hanging out together at a restaurant in N.H. this morning. That’s the only ticket that can beat Obama/Whoever.
myiq2xu
If Zelig Romney gets the nomination, the GOP will buy all the Fundie leaders they can and will keep the others away from the press poodles. And the LDS church will
helphappily pay for it.Ah pity the fool who don’t know who own da media, fo sho, fo sho.
dslak
You’re probably right, but Clinton already gave it a try, and that dog didn’t hunt.
They’d get the neocons and many of the economic conservatives, but they’d be hurting for the evanglical vote. You are right, however.
ThymeZone
I think it’s possible. Either way, if Obama is the Dem candidate, I see the GOP being crushed like a beer can under your truck tire in November.
As you can tell, I am very optimistic about this year and greatly looking forward to November and the slaying of the GOP beast.
dslak
They won’t be able to keep them away from Christian talk radio, however, which is a medium from which many evangelicals will be getting their information.
dslak
Although many economic conservatives might be persuaded to vote for McCain, his past record on taxes and campaign finance reform would make some of them uneasy with him. His only solid base is the neocons, and they won’t be enough to win an election.
ChoicelessMenu
The whisper campaigns against all of the Democrats (but especially the 3 front-runners; Obama, Clinton, Edwards) began in earnest early last year.
Visit the archives at myrightwingdad.blogspot.com to see what’s currently making the rounds.
As some have noted, in many of the right-wing slurs, the candidate’s name is now Barack Hussein Obama (much like it was Hillary Rodham Clinton in another era), and yes, many are forgoing the Barack and simply calling him Hussein (in yet another dog-whistle call to followers.)
An interesting recent article at the Nation lays out more of the particulars.
ThymeZone
Wow, just wow. Just saw the lowlites of a Mittney speech from New hampshire today …. he’s running against Obama.
We can’t afford him as president, says the Mitt, because …. he “hasn’t done it.” A nice fella and all, but he hasn’t done it.
This, after he lauds Obama for defeating HRC by being in favor of “change.”
A strange, disconnected and downright weird speech. What a goof that guy is.
Cassidy
Well gawsh! Maybe, I was right about the whole electability thing. I guess we’ll see in a few months.
gratefulcub
It looks like we may be ready to find out, if Obama is truly up 10 points in NH. A big win in NH sets up SC quite nicely for him, regardless of where Edwards is from.
If Obama is the real deal, the attacks won’t work. I have been in the room with the man twice, and I left tingling each time. One was a mid afternoon stop (the last of 15 in 8 days), in a red state with the next to last primary. I am not even sure why he showed up. Yet, the room was ready to walk through walls for him.
Why does everyone talk about IA, NH, and SC? Why do I never hear a word about Michigan, which is before SC?
STEVEinSC
http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/01/sweet_foxs_bill_oreilly_in_con.html
And so it begins.
myiq2xu
Uh, who owns Christian talk radio? The GOP bought most of the big time Fundie leaders long ago. It ain’t just little old ladies sending in their Social Security checks that keeps those televangelists in meth and gay hookers.
ThymeZone
I think you are looking at the flailings of two losers here.
Mittney decides to sound like McCain, and Hillary sounds like a scold. “Not so fast!” is her message.
Now on Faux news: “The American people want something different.”
Different, as in, different from the giant pile of shit that Faux News has been selling us for eight years?
Just asking.
dslak
I think your case is overstated here, as Christian radio is still more grassroots than outfits like Fox News.
James Dobson has been flexing his muscles for years, and now that he and others like him are getting a taste of having real power, I doubt they’ll just shutup because the men with the money tell them to. I expect that, in the end, just as in previous elections, their threats to walk will ring hollow. For a while, however, the GOP will be a house divided, perhaps so much so that they won’t be able to come together for the election.
myiq2xu
Dobson endorsed? Not pHuckabee.
dslak
Sir! I must ask you to read this. Although you are correct that Dobson has not endorsed Huckabee, I did not claim that he had, so I believe that my point still stands.
myiq2xu
I’m not trying to put words in your mouth. My point is that Dobson endorsed somebody besides one of his own.
Why? Follow the money.
The pHuckabee pHenomenon is that the rank and file are supporting him, but not the leaders. Not yet anyway.
dslak
Dobson hasn’t endorsed anyone yet. Also, here is a list of many evangelical leaders (some less significant than others) who have endorsed Huckabee.
JGabriel
The other night I was talking to a friend about Obama and how ugly the election is going to get once we hit the general. Without thinking about it, I was buying into the euphemism too.
As John and Glenn Greenwald both point out, this race is going to get ugly no matter what. That’s what Republicans do – ugly, dirty tricks politics.
What we’re going to see if Obama wins the Dem nomination will be beyond ugliness. It’ll be racism. Flagrant, out of control racism, encouraged and incited by the GOP, like we haven’t seen since Wallace turned the firehoses on protesters in the civil rights era. Only this time, there will be tasers.
On the other hand, I suppose it’s a mark of progress that the new euphemism for racism is ‘ugly’.
Jon H
The thing is, I think the GOP will overstep against Obama, and reveal the worst of their character.
I think America would be more tolerant of vile attacks against Hillary or Edwards. Those would just look like personal animosity.
Vile attacks against Obama will look more like plain old Republican racism, which won’t play well.
crw
I think you guys are seriously over-estimating the power of the Right Wing Noise Machine. You act like Rove and all the rest are somehow superhumanly competent, and that their dirty tricks somehow have magic powers to turn otherwise amenable people into slathering lunatics.
Bullshit. They were the lucky beneficiaries of unbelievable Democratic incompetence, nothing more. See, the smear game is all about playing on in-group/out-group bias and the expectations it sets. The basic arithmetic is this: if you get into someone’s in-group, it doesn’t matter how much you’re attacked. They either wont care (because they already “know” you’re good people), or will instinctively want to defend you because you’re part of the tribe.
Conversely, if you are cast into the out-group, nothing you do or say to defend yourselves from the smears will work. Out-group bias will have already predicated people to disliking you, and confirmation bias will then ensure that any smears are believable (because they confirm people were right to dislike you), no matter how far fetched.
Hence, getting people to identify with you is the real key to deflecting smears. Kerry and Gore failed at this miserably; they were uncharismatic, wonkish, and gave off too many “rich white guy” vibes (discount reality here, we’re talking emotional reaction). They weren’t able to get enough people beyond Democratic circles to identify with them to quite cut it. And even then, the elections were incredibly close. So the super awesome smear weapon was only able to eek out incredibly narrow victories (or in the case of Gore, actually a popular vote loss) in conditions that were prime for smears to be effective.
Now compare to this year. People are already overwhelmingly primed to vote Democratic thanks to 7+ years of Republican bungling. And we have Obama, a preternaturally charismatic candidate who middle Americans want to like. He’s done the seemingly impossible – gotten large numbers of people to identify with him despite his skin color and funny name.
You think those same smears, that were only barely able to eek out victory over bad candidates, are going to somehow result in Democratic defeat? I think not. Hell, even with Hillary, who is very vulnerable to smearing, I doubt they’d do more than narrow the margin of victory by a point or two. All they’ll accomplish this year is all they accomplished during Bubba’s reign. They’ll stir up the crazification factor a bit, and that’s about it.
myiq2xu
You are correct, I was mistaken. Dobson has endorsed no one.
I was thinking of another snake handling televangelist.
But it begs the question – why not? Why hasn’t Dobson endorsed pHuckabee yet?
Jake
The hell you caught wasn’t for your thesis it was for the sloppy and dim-witted way you presented it.
And there you have it. You don’t have Clue v. 1.0 about what the phrase “House Negro” means. I know it’s hard but do try to wrap your head around the fact that the non-S/W/M/P contingent of the GOP is just as willing to engage in dirty tricks against “The Enemy” as the majority of the party. Do you think Phyllis Schlafly is a lobotomized house wife? These people aren’t stupid. They aren’t slaves. They aren’t pushed anywhere by anyone, the fucking bastards jump.
dslak
I suspect that he has his crazy-assed reasons, but I’m not sure what they are.
Not even a little?
AnonE.Mouse
Obama’s campaign kind of feels like Bobby Kennedy’s in 1968.I sure hope the security at his appearances is better than it looks on television.
While he’s not my candidate,I agree that he’s a better counter puncher than Kerry,Gore,et al.How about a commercial with him simply standing,hand over heart,reciting the Pledge of Allegiance,while images of churches,firehalls,wounded soldiers,the homeless,etc. move across the screen?
Despite Lieberman’s sucking up,I don’t think he’s the VP candidate if McCain is resurrected.I would think that Obama anywhere on the Democratic ticket pretty much assures the Republican’s pick Rice or Powell to run as VP.
4tehlulz
Funny you should mention that….
TR
I saw that too. I like how he praised Obama as “well-spoken.” No word on whether he’s clean, though.
I checked out a post with coverage of the O’Reilly tantrum, and there were several comments along the lines of “Good for you, Bill!” Uh, do what now? Good for … shoving and screaming? Acting like an egotistical little shit?
I don’t know who’s more pathetic — O’Really, or the mouthbreathing children who cheer him on.
dslak
You sure do speak good English, Boah. You go to school or sumfin’?
Chuck Butcher
It won’t matter if it’s Obama, Edwards, or Richardson, the machine will go into overtime. Some of you think too big, if 6 votes / precinct were changed in 04 you’d have a Kerry landslide. This is the scale we’re talking about and why “small scale” politics works, the hate machine need only change a couple of your neighbor’s votes to have a serious effect.
Out of the entire post and comments the thing that cracks me up most is, “Hussein’s exotic mixture of radical liberalism, Kwanzaa Socialism.” AHAHAHAHA
dslak
This is only true if it’s a close race. If it’s not, small-scale politics doesn’t work.
Jay
Lieberman ain’t sucking up – he’s there to boost McCain. A McCain/Lieberman ticket gets the AIPAC vote which includes half the fundies through Hagee and Dobson
JGabriel
GratefulCub:
Probably because Michigan’s delegates have been taken away from them for scheduling their primary so early. I don’t really see that particular punitive measure working in practice, but in the meantime MI’s primary votes don’t count, and most of the Democratic candidates are not campaining there.
That could skew the results in anomolous ways – which is, in fact, a good reason for the press not to focus on the MI primary and downplay it in their reporting. Much like today’s Wyoming Republican primary, which is similiarly being ignored for the same reasons.
Jay
There’s seems to be a punctuation gremlin here.
crw
Yep. Smears affect the margins. They can’t make up for failed policies.
Again, they barely worked against Kerry – who was an uncharismatic candidate running against a sitting war time president. And he still did better than any challenger in similar circumstances. This year, the GOP starts with too huge a deficit (barring a miracle on the order of the big JC himself coming down and telling people to vote R) for the hate machine to do more than stir the crazies.
myiq2xu
Go fuck yourself, you lame-ass concern troll.
I know exactly what a “house negro” refers to.
Do you think the “house negros” of the antebellum South were stupid?
JGabriel
CRW:
Nope, I don’t. I do think, though, that we need to be prepared for the level of racism that will pour from the Republican Attack Machine if Obama gets the nomination.
Yes, it will hurt the GOP, but they won’t be able to help themselves. They’ll ring that racist gong like a coke-addicted lab-rat pressing a lever for it’s next hit.
Forewarned is forearmed, and all that. Just urging people to not give it any credence and be prepared to fight back when it comes, which it will.
crw
JGabriel:
Agreed. It’s only be prudent to anticipate and be ready to counter the attack dogs and whisper machine. But don’t let the Rethuglicans chose your candidate by default. Which is what this “can he fight the Right Wing Attack Machine?” meme amounts to. It’s yielding the choice to them out of fear. The right question is “How can he fight the Right Wing Attack Machine?”
myiq2xu
I don’t think that “Rove and all the rest are somehow superhumanly competent” but I also don’t think that they are harmless.
It’s like a mole or a strange lump. It’s most dangerous if you ignore it.
tBone
Great post. Of course the fRighties are going to throw every smear in the book at Obama; that’s a given. The question is, will the smears stick? Every indication thus far says no. Obama’s incredible charisma shields him in ways that Kerry and Gore (or Hillary/Edwards) could never match.
Let the bastards try it. I can’t wait to see it blow up in their faces.
RSA
So Rove et al. are the equivalent of colon polyps? That’d a Reagan allusion I could live with.
Dreggas
Dobson won’t endorse Huckabee, as much as he preaches for candidates like Huckabee, the wedge issues are jos gravy train. If there was nothing left for him to fight “for” he’d be out of business.
STEVEinSC
Jake, I had the same whine cast at me earlier when it was apparent that my view held more water than the contrary one (JGabriel Says comments above were similar to mine). Never point out a decficiency in a cognoscenti post or you’ll get concern-trolled for impertinence.
D. Mason
Yeah, BJ is quickly turning into an echo chamber.
demimondian
Robertson has endorsed 9ui11ani, but Dobson has been silent so far. He’s keeping his power — err, I mean, *powder* — dry, hoping to bring his piece of the evangelical community in behind whoever is the R nominee.
Robertson, by contrast, needed to step up and put his wood behind the noun, the verb, and “9/11”. That’s not surprising, though : he has a weakness for men with an air of authority.
demimondian
Um, Steve? Jake has been here a very long time. He’s one of the nomenclatura here.
myiq2xu
You too, sockpuppet
Bruce Moomaw
For whatever it’s worth, I just sent a reply to Jimmie’s breathtaking exercise in missing Cole’s point. Summary: Jimmie, alas, has no objection to mixing fundamentalist Christian bigotries with politics, provided that said bigotries don’t happen to clash with the political interests of the GOP as a whole. But now, alas, they do.
STEVEinSC
Nomenklatura?
demimondian
Sorry — yes, nomenklatura.
Rick Taylor
That is a big part of why I’m supporting HIllary for the nomination. I’m confident she’s ready for everything the opposition has to dish out; I’m hoping Obama is if he gets the nomination.
myiq2xu
I wear condoms- my pipes are clean.
Jorge Porrata
Kerry killed himself when he said “I voted for the 85 billion before I voted against it”
Everything else was gravy. The swift boat thing was political theater. What killed Kerry was the flip-flop. And the guy still lost by one of the narrowest margins in electorial history.
Yep, the right wing smear machine is going to come after Obama. Unlike Hillary or even Bill, who had to learn as adults what it is like to be attacked by mean spirited people trying to destroy your self-worth, Obama has been dealing with that mess his whole life.
The guy has always been black.
The guy has always come from a mixed-marriage couple.
The guy has always had a funny name.
The guy has always had a father from Kenya.
The playbook is simple – the Republican candidate will try to portray Obama as too liberal and weak on defense. The noise machine will appeal to racist concerns and Islamic conspiracy theorists.
But let’s not freak too much – Rove never got his candidate over 51% with this crap. And neither Kerry nor Gore had the charisma or message of Obama.
After Hillary, I think Edwards would actually get the most vicious thrashing. They’d go after him for being a trial lawyer and a serious whisper campaign would arise around how he is so ambitious that he is sacrificing his wife’s health for his own selfish desires.
Krista
Nomenklatura implies that these people get higher authority or privileges. I’ve been here a long time. Where are my privileges, dammit?
dslak
Maybe we can establish a beneficial patron/client relationship.
Krista
Funny how you don’t need to see someone’s face to know when they’re waggling their eyebrows and leering. :)
dslak
I don’t think we’re talking about the same thing, Krista.
Krista
Probably not. Then again, that precise phrase WAS once used on me as a pickup like, so the precedent had been set. My apologies for jumping to conclusions. :)
dslak
Was the man hitting on you also a member of the Politburo?
demimondian
Hey, wait, Krista…do you mean you *didn’t* get the Black Sea dacha?
Krista
No, but I think he WAS a member of AARP.
dslak
Some might argue that they’re the same thing.
tBone
As the local enforcer for the Liberal Fascist Thought Police, I demand that you stop airing state secrets in public, comrade. For your own good.
Krista
Nyet. I didn’t even get a bowl of cold borscht.
myiq2xu
When did I become one of the Cognoscenti/Politiburo and who’s been getting my paychecks?
demimondian
Just like a lawyer — always thinking about billables.
demimondian
Listen, bub. You may represent the Liberal Fascist Thought Police, but I’m payed by a company which truly believes that there should be no secrets…except our own.
myiq2xu
Fuckin’ A!
tBone
Argh! Teh Eye of Gollum turns my way!
demimondian
Bwahahaha! Did you know that our web spider is named “Shelob”?
STEVEinSC
Bingo, I am in the AARP, big time. I tried Viagra, but all it did was give me a headache, so I’m not even any use to myself.
Darkness
Wait… wait… I know this one… what is Catholic high school notebook art? Hey Yes! I got one.
tBone
My robots.txt file is named Sam, so I’m not worried.
kuvasz
But that forces one admit a reality that Obama rejects in pursuit of his policy for reconciliation and bipartisanship.
So if Obama wins the nomination by calling for unity and doesn’t get it, what is going to happen?
Is the American voting public going to smight down the Republicans at the ballot box for a case of bad manners?
dslak
Obviously, he’s just going to roll over and let the Republicans win, instead of trying to run a campaign for president.
If the frontrunner has the support of moderates and independents as well as his own party, how effective can we expect dog whistles to be?
Jake
Hey, yeah. Where the hell is George Soros?
Driving idiots over the edge is all well and good, but I still want my damn check.
And a flying car. I’m starting to get really pissed about the flying car.
skip
Subsequent to the cancellation of the Paris-Dakar race, there was some chatter about how moslems were targetting western traditions. Needless to say this quicky re-touched upon Xmas.
The only problem was that there was no record at all of moslem groups debunking Christmas (indeed, many embraced the Holiday). Ironically, the main litigants proved to be atheists and Jews–much to the discomfiture of the evangelical groups that had big plans to highlight the story.
dslak
Since Christians are People of the Book, they are assumed to have a right to their holidays. Also, even those Muslims who believe in the strictest forms of Shari’a will tend to be pluralists on the matter of theocratic governance and so recognize that other religious groups also have a right to govern their nations theocratically, so long as Muslims are free to practice their religion.
Michael F
On the night of the Iowa caucus, Bill Bennett was one of the commentators for CNN. He repeatedly voiced Barack Hussein Obama’s when speaking of him and he was the only one to do so. Bennett must be already uncomfortable with Obama’s popularity.
whoframedrudy
“I think that they’ll be afraid to try to destroy him because they will be worried about blowback.”
Oh, have they been ‘born again’ again? There’s definitely a one-two punch strategy. Case in point, Neocon crackpot Bill Kristol is now criticizing Hillary for her Iraq vote. Yeah, Bill Kristol really likes Obama (snark).
If I saw Obama taking any heat from the press in the primary, I’d have more faith that he can stand up in the general.
Obama’s problem is the unspoken premise of his ‘dream’ campaign is we don’t have to worry about terrorism anymore. That translates into ‘the surge worked, Iran backed down on nukes, Al Queada can’t get past the Patriot Act.’ If that’s the nation’s attitude, Repubs will be on the redemption path by November. The Clintons are the only ones who have ever beat them at full strength.
whoframedrudy
“It’s like the Clinton Impeachment, anyone could see that it was gonna be a trainwreck for the GOP, but they couldn’t stop themselves.”
The Republican trainwreck was orchestrated by Hillary. It didn’t just happen. That was her job in Bill’s administration. “Your mission is (1) take down the VRWC and (2) wipe that smug smile off Newt Gingrich’s face.” Mission accomplished!
2000: A chimpanzee beats a Nobel Laureate. 2004: A draft-dodging coward beats a War Hero.
myiq2xu
When everyone else leaves the thread, the trolls come in to feed on the offal that is left behind.
dslak
Hillary Clinton also defeated communism.
section9
Look, we like Barack, we really do.
Barack has done what George Bush the Elder and Bob Dole could not do: destroy the Clinton apparatus. All the private investigators, the destruction of Billy Dale’s life, the FBI files, and God knows how much other overt and covert criminality will never reach the White House because of Barack Hussein Obama.
Yep, he’s a lib, but he’s a silent hero among Republicans, because he’s slain the Hildebeast. A black community activist with a law degree and as much raw political talent as a young Arkansas governor had in 1992 has brought down the House of Clinton.
All that sense of Entitlement that was vested in the House of Clinton: Gone with the Wind.
A McCain/Obama race will be an elevated contest for the country for one other reason: Obama’s success does mean the death knell of the Netroots.
You guys buttered your bread with anger at George W. Bush. One of things we wondered was what the heck you people were going to actually going to be angry about once he was back in Texas and the Constitutional system that Mr. Madison set up actually transferred power to Mr. MrCain or Mr. Obama.
I mean, if Obama is in the White House, what does Kos do for a freaking encore. I saw Olbermann almost cry in his beer the other night as the implication of Obama’s post-hate politics began to dawn on him.
Understand that Hillary’s kind of politics was tailor-made for continued scorched-earth, Russian Front kind of political warfare, the kind favored on this and other sites. She defined herself by her enemies. So do you people, of course. So when the vast center of the country decides that it wants to get past Bush and Clinton and decides that it wants a contest between two decent guys who don’t hate each other, you people can’t understand it, because your so vested in your anger.
Just like the Freepers, by the way. They don’t know what to do, either.
By the way, could see Olbermann’s heart sink as his career passed before his eyes. He tried to rationalize Obama’s Iowa victory by explaining to Fineman that if the independents were subtracted from Obama’s totals, then he would have beaten Clinton by only two points.
Which was a bit like saying that without the Siberian divisions, the Russians wouldn’t have held Moscow.
Without the hate, you guys have nothing left to do, do you?
Except, of course, get real lives.
demimondian
We have a first-rate concern troll here, too, don’t we? Section9, you win the “I are smarter than a lolcat” prize.
Jonesy
I think this thread shows what may be Obamas weakness. Anything the GOP brings up (affirmative action, welfare, etc…) the Left will scream racism (that the GOP is using the race card against Obama), and THAT will turn off voters.
I think thats what happened to Ford in Tennessee. Its wasnt that commercial that hurt him so bad, its the Lefts hysterical reaction to it that did. People are sick and tired of liberals screaming racism.
Mike Alexander
I think a more likley approach will be something like this. The right hurls the Muslim charge. Obama addresses this charge by first noting that he is a Christian (Church of Christ). He then calmly notes that his father was a Kenyan and he has a Kenyan name. Many Kenyans have Muslim names and he has one too. Not only that but he lived for two years as a child in Indonesis, a Muslim majority country, and attended a public school there. So it is understandable how his attackers were confused.
Meanwhile, leftwing groups not officially affliated with the Obama campaign can dig up dirt on the people making the charge and attempt to paint the charges as anti-African racism (e.g. macaca).
With any luck one of the “swiftboaters” will have some questionable issues in their background (e.g. a propensity to tell racial jokes or teenage hijinks with a racial edge). They can use these revelations to prove that the GOP is mounting a racist attack, forcing the GOP candidate to publicly repudidate the Muslim slingers.
The media expects or even wants race to be an issue to make the elction a more compelling story. So they will run with this issue if it is handed to them without them having to do any work. Hence the Muslim line of attack could very easily backfire.
On the other hand, when my wife asked her sister what she thought about Obama she said she didn’t think the country was ready for a Muslim president–so if unchallenged the charge will likely work.